Hard boiled sugar-based and sugar substitute-based orally ingestible products are generally amorphous products, having a relatively smooth and often glassy surface. The specific components of such products can be varied to provide a product with the desired texture, taste, appearance, and optional active ingredient concentration.
Orally ingestible hard boiled products can serve various purposes and are found in a range of industries. For example, some such products are found in the food industry (e.g., hard confectionary products of various forms and flavors), in the pharmaceutical industry (e.g., cough drops and nicotine-containing lozenges), and in the tobacco industry (e.g., smokeless tobacco lozenges).
Orally ingestible hard boiled products typically comprise a sugar and/or sugar substitute as a major component. For example, many hard boiled products comprise sugar and/or isomalt, although other sugar substitutes can be used. Although the specific method by which various ingestible hard boiled products are produced can vary, the process generally comprises heating the components at a temperature sufficient to melt the sugar and/or sugar substitute or a solution thereof. The resulting hot syrup generally serves as the base (i.e., the primary component) of the product.
Other ingredients can be added at various stages of this manufacturing process. For example, flavorings (e.g., natural and synthetic oils and extracts) and other components are often added to provide the product with the desired aroma and/or flavor. Food colorings/dyes can be added to alter the visual appearance of the product. Buffers and/or pH adjusters (i.e., acids or bases) are often added to ensure that the acidity of the product is within a desired range. Where relevant, active ingredients (e.g., cough suppressants, vitamins, minerals, drugs, or nicotine) are also added.
To ensure that all ingredients are thoroughly mixed throughout the final product, the ingredients are typically added to the mixture at a somewhat elevated temperature in the manufacturing process (i.e., when the base of the ingestible product is still in a liquid state). However, certain ingredients are volatile components that can evaporate when added at an elevated temperature. Further, certain ingredients can decompose at elevated temperatures. For example, sodium bicarbonate readily decomposes into sodium carbonate, water, and carbon dioxide at temperatures in excess of 70° C. and, thus, generally cannot be used because of the extended mixing times and the high temperatures at which such mixtures are typically maintained to ensure complete mixing. Additionally, certain ingredients can impact the final product in other ways when added at elevated temperatures. For example, adding food colors to hot sucrose-containing syrup can result in inversion of the sucrose, arising from reaction between the acid in food color and the sucrose. Mixtures of sucrose and acid in the presence of heat can produce dextrose and fructose, which alters the nature of the resulting orally ingestible hard boiled product.
Consequently, it would be desirable to provide a method by which certain ingredients could be incorporated within a hard boiled product without causing undesirable changes in the composition, such as through evaporation or decomposition of certain ingredients or formation of byproducts.